As a pavilion designed to change the shape of its skin like the billow and flow of a parachute blowing in the wind, this project seeks to develop a new type of building that can form dynamic boundaries. It works by modifying Buckminster Fuller's tensegrity theory to produce actuated (dynamic) tensegrity structures that have a controllable rigidity. The prototype structure changes shape in a controlled way by filling pneumatic muscles with air that then pull opposing structural elements together, causing the skin to become rigid and change shape. By controlling the activity of each actuator different regions of the structure can be shaped in response to local stimuli or as a pre-programmed activity. We envisage these dynamic spaces as places in which people can come together and engage in fun and interesting ways.

The first two figures (left) are in-progress renderings of the project model. Strict height and volume regulations required that the dynamic building be enclosed within specific limits. To enable the best use of space and to support the client program (a museum, offices, shop and cafe) the buildings were designed over two levels with the floor heights being determined by the existing Coney Island Boardwalk. By splitting the building across two levels and by splaying each building at an angle a courtyard was developed to the beach below, thus connecting the ephemeral nature of the parachute pavilions to the shifting sands upon which they rest.